Children are being groomed into criminality from the age of six in deprived areas where “there is an endless supply” of youths to serve the drugs trade, a report published on Wednesday finds.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust study notes that single mothers are being drawn into the sex industry to make ends meet, while others have faced criminal charges for stealing nappies and baby milk.
Drawing on interviews with people living in some of the poorest communities, including Ballymun and Darndale in Dublin and parts of Limerick city, the report examines links between poverty and the criminal justice system from the perspective of those with “important expertise”.
While noting that poverty and criminality “do not need to go hand in hand”, it nonetheless says deprivation and associated traumas “can increase exposure to the conditions in which criminalisation becomes more likely”.
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Economic stress is compounded by “school exclusion, unmet mental health and neurodevelopmental needs, trauma, housing instability, care experience, substance use, lack of youth infrastructure and the criminalisation of survival and coping strategies”, says the report, titled From Punishment to Prevention: Poverty, Inequality and Pathways into the Irish Criminal Justice System.
One young person interviewed for the report recalls stealing to fit in with their peers. “I used to never have money to get stuff in the shops ... it made me end up, I end up having to take it out of the shops myself ... because I felt like I was left out, and the only alternative I had was to go and actually take it.”
Young men recalled being drawn into the drugs trade because it offered recognition and status.
“When I sold drugs, it wasn’t just the money; I felt important, because I used to have a few people that got drugs off me ... I was actually part of something. And not just the belonging of being part of a crew, but people relied on me. I was important.”
A youth worker, referencing inadequate funding for youth services, commented: “The people offering these kids money can do anything that they want because they don’t play by rules, while I’m trying to help these kids with my hands tied behind me back.”
For some children, criminality becomes normalised. One young man said: “I had a fascination with prisons and crime ... because of my dad, because of my friends’ dads and their older brothers. When I first went to prison, it felt like a rite of passage. It felt like I know this was coming, and here it is.”
Interviewees said very young children were being induced into crime. “You don’t see a six-year-old on a street corner selling drugs, but he’s cycling up to the corner to see if the guards are coming so he could nod down the road.”
Another said there was an “endless supply of children” for criminal activity, particularly in the drug trade.
Women, especially mothers, said they were criminalised because of survival strategies.
“You’re gonna go to the ends of the earth for them kids, do you know what I mean?... I’ve got charges for robbing f***ing baby milk, nappies,” said one. “And the thing about a woman is she has to survive, there’s too much dependent on her.”
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A woman in the sex industry described poverty as the ”core” driver of sex work. She said most women engaged in sex work were single mothers “choosing from very few options”.
Among the wide-ranging report’s more than 20 recommendations are that discrimination on socio-economic status grounds be outlawed; a significant increase in youth services’ funding and that the criminal justice system take a gender-sensitive approach to women and caregivers.
